The Federal Transit Administration recently awarded a "finding of no significant impact," or FONSI, for the second phase of VIA Metropolitan Transit's Westside Multimodal Transit Center project.
This finding comes with the completion of a supplemental environmental assessment of the project, and it shows that VIA's work to build the facility will not have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment. With the FONSI, VIA is now able to move forward with the acquisition of properties and the engineering work for the development of those properties.
The Westside Multimodal Transit Center will be located in and around the historic International and Great Northern Railroad depot building on Medina Street at Houston Street. Phase 1 of the project, scheduled to be completed in late 2012, will include the renovation of the historic depot and the installation of on-street bus amenities.
Phase 2 of the project includes the construction of a new transit plaza just east of Phase 1. In this phase VIA will acquire five properties just east of the depot to construct a state-of-the-art transit facility. This facility will accommodate additional modes of transportation, and it will have a positive aesthetic impact on the community while affording the capacity to provide seamless connections between transportation modes.
For more details on this project (as well as the documents supporting the FONSI), please visit http://www.viainfo.net/Planning/WSMM2.aspx.
